The Ridge Salon 3
Carin Thuresson
Embracing moments of Katja’s “Dawn Chorus” recording brought me back to my Native Sweden. There, forests are vast, and you can walk for miles with no other encounters but birds, ants, butterflies, insects and maybe an elk or two if you’re lucky. Inner silence and outer soundscapes are paramount. Solitude is respected and you enter a sacred space: nature hands you the opportunity to meet yourself, a straightforward conversation, good or bad, with no busy distractions or easy escape routes whilst being present to nature. You fill your lungs with the aroma of the woods, maybe it triggers your curiosity to touch leaves, feel the tree trunks, inhale the scent of pine needles and everything else that comes your way. Your senses are on heightened alert.
With all these things in mind I invited the Salonistas to build their own bird nests using scented herbaceous plants foraged from my allotment. The nests were built in complete silence in the lush setting of Katja’s garden. Once completed, we walked silently to the trees and placed the nests in them, guided by dim candlelight as dusk settled. The inspiration was respect for nature, encouraging silent rich inner dialogues and creating a tribute to bird’s complex nest construction skills.
Biography
Carin Thuresson has a multicultural artistic background. She trained in physical acting at The Commedia School in Copenhagen and at Ecole Jaques Lecoq in Paris. She also learned the skills of puppeteering and run the professional puppet theatre Theatre Morianen in Malmö, Sweden. She was a member of Orakelteatern and produced her own solo performance: Florence Nightingale.
Since moving to London in 1998, Carin has worked as a puppeteer with the Chicken Ched Theatre, Moral Support as well as making puppets for various festivals and events. Carin has run puppet making workshops at the Wigmore Hall, The Swedish Church and Swedish School, Creative Kids and Highgate Society.
Adding to her creative portfolio Carin completed a degree in Visual Design and Display at the London College of Printing and has designed many shop windows in Highgate and West Hampstead since.
Having always been a skilled seamstress and autodidact embroiderer Carin founded two after school sewing clubs in her local Highgate. For many years she designed and produced costumes for the St Michael’s School pantomimes. Currently she creates bespoke needlework and sells her craft on Etsy. Her embroidered doughnuts won her first price at the Highgate Horticultural Society Autumn Show and her stitched artworks have been featured at exhibitions at the Booth Gallery and Holly Lodge Community Centre.
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SEWN2EMBROIDERY/
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Instagram: @thuressoncarin